Help! Problem with new filter after backwash

[gregch]

Try pulling a hissyfit! Go after the manufacturer, demanding your $$ back for a new product that won’t work. As a bluff!
They have resources to help resolve this! I was in the service industry my whole life and have found, being completely unreasonable and loud- at first- is a very productive tactic! The screaming and yelling will immediately move you up the power structure. As soon as you reach someone with knowledge/power you apologize and plead your case! More than likely you will gain an ally.

Well in fact the supplier has been awesome. I spoke to them about the guy refusing to fit a pressure gauge and claiming they're not supplied with one, and they sent me the relevant parts FOC. I'm 100% convinced the problem is with the guy who installed it rather than the product.

I've now managed to get it running, I think. I did another very quick backwash and rinse, during the rinse I noticed the water all of a sudden was up into the dome, so I quickly switched the pump off and back to filtration, bled the last of the air out and now seems to be running OK-ish. "OK-ish", because it remains full of debris floating about in there, and there's a sort of rattling noise from the pipes between filter and multiport (can't exactly pin down where) that *could* be movement of water but sounds more like gravel or something rattling around in the pipe.

I have a different pool guy coming to take a look at it on Monday next week so with luck we can limp it through until then.

 

[duraleigh]

sounds more like gravel or something rattling around in the pipe.

Air in the pipes makes that same sound.

 

[gregch]

Air in the pipes makes that same sound.

Ah, interesting - so maybe that noise is normal? Or maybe some trapped air in there somewhere (tho no air seems to be coming out of the return/inlet now, and still no air in the pump).

 

[duraleigh]

so maybe that noise is normal?

I wouldn't call it "normal" but it is not uncommon. It sounds like your pump is priming and you see no sloshing or tumbling in you pump basket lid.

That OK and, in time, works itself out. I am just saying that's a possible source for that "rattling" noise

 

[gregch]

The new pool guy we'd been recommended was due to come this morning and didn't show up, so I guess I'm back to trying to figure it out myself (with some help!).

All seems to working OK so far, but: Is it normal to see debris in the water visible in the clear dome at the top of the sand filter?

 

[Bperry]

The new pool guy we'd been recommended was due to come this morning and didn't show up, so I guess I'm back to trying to figure it out myself (with some help!).

All seems to working OK so far, but: Is it normal to see debris in the water visible in the clear dome at the top of the sand filter?

I see some debris in mine (mostly nylon bristles from my pool brush). Don’t know if that’s normal but debris getting in the filter is a good thing.

 

[gregch]

I see some debris in mine (mostly nylon bristles from my pool brush). Don’t know if that’s normal but debris getting in the filter is a good thing.

Ah, that's reassuring! I guess if stuff is ending up in the filter rather than the pool then that's good.

With the previous filter I never saw a lot of stuff floating about except during a backwash. I do wonder whether it will clean up a bit more after another backwash (the water is clear, it's just that there's bits - tree seeds and tiny bugs - visible floating about in the water in the clear part of the filter).

 

[gregch]

Quick update on the pressure gauge etc... it now seems like Pentair have changed the design of the Triton filter (in Europe, at least) so that the pressure gauge/ air bleed assembly has been deleted and they are now supplied with just a black thumbscrew on top of the lid as a manual air bleed, and a separate pressure gauge that fits to the multiport.

I guess that's to save cost, but it's sub-optimal for two reasons: 1) that bleed screw - which isn't very robust - allows water to spray in every direction while bleeding the air and 2) they've apparently changed the hole in the lid so that it no longer accepts the top-mounted pressure gauge/air bleed assembly, which I now have but can't fit without buying an older-style lid!

Otherwise it seems to be working OK now. Thanks everyone for the help and insights. Media fill looks about right, no air in the system at all. Pressure according to the gauge I now have on the multiport is running at about 0.8 bar, or 12 psi, which seems about right. Still need to summon the courage to do a decent long backwash (up to 10 mins as recommended, in the hopes it cleans up some of the 'loose' floating debris in the filter) and see what happens after that! (I'll report back after)

 

[JamesW]

it now seems like Pentair have changed the design of the Triton filter (in Europe, at least) so that the pressure gauge/ air bleed assembly has been deleted and they are now supplied with just a black thumbscrew on top of the lid as a manual air bleed, and a separate pressure gauge that fits to the multiport.

Who told you that?

 

[gregch]

Who told you that?

Well... a couple of things. I've reached out for confirmation and not heard back yet, but if you take a look at Pentair's Europe website the image they now use for the Triton looks like this:



ie it has just the black thumbscrew on top and pressure gauge mounted to the multiport.

Secondly, the supplier sent me the top-mounted pressure gauge/manual air bleed assembly which is the same as the US and pre-2023 UK models and what I was expecting to get... We did finally get another pool guy to turn up and check over the filter and what the previous guy had done, and at the same time I thought I'd ask him to fit that assembly. Unfortunately, he tells me it doesn't actually fit the lid - in other words Pentair have changed the lid design so the top mounted gauge/air bleed assembly can't be used.

As I say, I'm waiting on confirmation, since I'm not sure about the new guy either... while he was here he also manged to destroy two of the (new last year) paving slabs on the pool surround trying to hammer in anchors when he'd drilled the holes too small.... luckily we have spare slabs, but will need to cut the damaged ones out very carefully as they're right next to the coping corners that we don't have spares for and are not easy to replace.

 

[gregch]

Apologies for a very late update on this, but just to bring some closure...!

All working fine now. Neither I nor the suppliers could get a definite answer from Pentair, but it certainly seems that the Triton filters they sell in Europe now (starting 2023) come without the pressure gauge / air bleed assembly on top of the dome. Instead, you just get a black plastic 'wingnut' to serve as an air bleed (it works, if you don't mind water spraying everywhere, but doesn't feel very durable) and a pressure gauge you can mount (upside down) on the multiport. It's a bit cheap, and not great, but it does work. You can fit the old style lid, which does take the original bleed assembly, if you want, at additional cost. I haven't bothered but might in the future.

I never did find out what was causing the problem with purging the filter of air, except that I managed to solve it by repeatedly going through a backwash/rinse cycle. Now it works OK - if there's air in the filter after a backwash it can be very quickly bled with the wingnut (a few seconds) and all back to normal.

Now it's all running clean and gets backwashed on a regular schedule with no issues*.



*Well, one issue: I did a very thorough backwash which of course dropped the pool water level a little bit, no problem to top up from the hose. And - possibly because I'm an idiot - I decided to test the water immediately afterwards, right where I had the hose, and spent a few hours wondering what had gone wrong with my pool chemistry!!! Left it a day to circulate and what do you know everything back to normal!